Sunday Morning
by Laura Ann Yates
Summary: Castle finds out about Beckett's Christmas tradition before 5.09 Secret Santa and is determined to change it. How far will he go? Will she let him change everything that she knows? This came out of the prompt: Sundays, which I got from a friend at college.


**Chapter One: Christmas Eve**

The morning of Sunday 24th December found Detective Kate Beckett in her car, racing down Broadway after their latest suspect. Rightfully, this year, she should have Christmas weekend off, but ever since the death of her mother 15 years ago, she hasn't felt like she has the right to have time off at this time of year or at all; after all, criminals never take vacation time, so why should she?

Returning to the real world, Beckett sees her suspect's wrapped around a lamppost. Grinning at yet another victory, she unbuckles her seat belt and heads towards the crumpled car. "Nate Williams, you are under arrest for the murder of Colin Starr and Melanie Smith. You do not have to say anything, yada, yada, yada. Take him away." She hands him over to uniform before heading back to the precinct to get a head start on paperwork.

* * *

"What are you doing here? It's Christmas eve! Don't you have any sort of traditions with your dad or Lanie?" Castle said as he walked into the bullpen from the break room, ready to head home to join his mother and daughter for their very own Christmas eve traditions.

"Yes, I do. Working." She tells him bluntly, not taking her eyes off the words in front of her.

"Working!? You are not working over Christmas. Or not this year anyway." Castle exclaims, marching his way over to her. He grabs her arms and pulls her from the chair; helping her into her coat, he leans over and saves her work before logging her off and dragging her down to his car. All the while not giving her the opportunity to fight against him.

* * *

"Kate! What a wonderful surprise." Martha grins, wrapping her arms around the younger woman's shoulders.

"I'm not here willingly I will have you know." Martha's grin being infectious, Kate sends one in her direction, feeling like a part of the family she secretly longed to be a real part of.

"Dad, you didn't kidnap her did you?" Alexis smiles, wandering towards the adults from the kitchen. "Detective Beckett, it's good to see you again."

"Alexis, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Kate."

"Ok, Kate." She smiles at her role model. "Dinners almost ready by the way. I guess your staying? There's plenty for everyone and you won't be intruding if that's what your worried about."

"I don't really think your father has given me much of a choice." Kate tells, the younger girl, following her into kitchen.

"Hey! You were going to work if I hadn't dragged you away from the precinct." Castle yells after them.

"Working? Over Christmas? Never!" Martha calls, taking her usual place at the dining table, glass of wine in hand."

"I have ever since my mum's murder. It's a kind of tradition of mine if you like." She tells the Castle family.

"Not any longer if I have my way." The man himself says, joining his three favourite women at the table.

"You can't force me Castle."

"I don't intend to detective." They smile softly at each other, not holding back any emotions that want to be known, knowing that they've danced around each other for far too long. Kate's breath catches slightly as she sees something that she didn't expect to see in his eyes. Love. "Something wrong?" He asks. She quickly shakes her head no and averts her eyes back to her plate of food, not knowing that he saw the same reflected in her eyes.

* * *

"That was lovely. Thank you." Kate smiles, pushing her plate away from her slightly indicating that she had finished eating.

"No problem, detect-" Alexis catches herself mid-word, remember what the older woman had told her earlier. 'call me Kate'. "Err, Kate."

They both stand up and are followed by Martha and Castle into the living room where they all flop down onto the sofa one by one, Kate's breath catching once again as Castle sits close to her side, his left hand brushing against the top of her thigh. "Sorry" He mumbles in her direction, sliding his hand, not away like she expected him to do, but instead up and over her leg, coming to rest just in the inside of her thigh. He squeezes it slightly as he looks her directly in the eyes, not giving her time to put her walls up before he catches the love reflected in them.

"We need more wine." Martha claims, using Alexis to push herself up of the sofa and head back towards the kitchen. Returning minutes later with a fresh glass, the older woman sits in the armchair, looking expectantly at her son, since when did he just sit there after dinner on Christmas eve? She questioned to herself, remembering the previous year.

* * *

_"Dinners ready!" Martha called her family to the table for their Christmas eve dinner._

_Before she could sit down herself, Richard Castle, her supposedly grown up son, raced past his daughter and had started eating. "Honestly Richard! Do you have to eat so quickly?"_

_"We still have so much to do tonight." He argues, through a mouthful of food. "The longer we spend on each activity, the later we get to bed, the less chance we have of Santa coming tonight."_

_"You do know Santa's not real. Right?" Alexis tells him, seriously worried about the speed in which her father was eating._

_"Shhhhh!" He says, spitting food everywhere. "If he hears you - and Santa hears EVERYTHING - you won't get any presents in your stocking."_

_"Ok, ok, sorry dad. Just slow down okay? We have all night and if you keep eating like that then you're going to get indigestion."_

* * *

"Richard, aren't you going to hand out presents? It's not like you to not be so excited about this." Martha finally decides to speak up, after observing her son caress the inside of the detectives thigh.

Snapping out of his reverie, he looks towards his mother and grins at her before hauling himself up and towards the tree. After several trips, back and forth, he finally sits back down next to Kate, having ordered the presents in four different piles for him and his loved ones. Kate turns away from Castle and towards the piles of gifts, her eyebrows raising into her hairline as she sees four piles, not three, all of a similar size. "Castle? Why are there four piles?"

"Because there are four people. One, two, three," He says, pointing to himself, Alexis and Martha. Taking her hand in his, he looks into her eyes before finishing with "Four."

"Castle-" She begins before being cut off.

"Kate, you are as much a part of this family as I am. And don't argue." He sends her a pointed look, watching her as she opens and closes her mouth several times, wanting to argue but not being able to find the words. "And don't complain about how much I spent either. You seem to forget that I have written over two dozen best selling novels."

"I know but Castle. I'm not your family; I'm just your partner. I only got you one thing, which granted is more than I got the boys and Lanie but, I knew you would get me something so I figured I would just to be safe."

"I don't care about what you got me or what you didn't get me. All I want, I have." Apart from you as my girlfriend, he adds under his breath, praying that she doesn't hear his utterances.

"Thank you." She whispers, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders, a smile crawling across her face as she feels his snake around her waist, holding her close.


End file.
